TransLink installing barriers in new buses for driver protection
Safety barriers will be standard in all new buses ordered for Metro Vancouver going forward, in an attempt to reduce the number of assaults on drivers.
“This is just another tool for operator safety,” said Haydn Acheson, president and general manager of Coast Mountain Bus Company.
There were 106 instances of workplace violence against bus drivers in 2016, according to statistics from Coast Mountain. That’s down from 2015, when there were 110 assaults.
It was in 2014 that Coast Mountain, in partnership with WorkSafe B.C., B.C. Transit and operator unions, began gathering feedback from employees for a prototype safety barrier.
TransLink started testing barriers in early 2015, when it installed a Plexiglas prototype in a Burnaby-based bus. A total of six prototypes with four different designs have been piloted. The one that was chosen was piloted in the fall of 2016 and features a fixed solid portion that prevents attacks from behind and a sliding glass partition.
Over the years, drivers have expressed concerns with the idea of having barriers, including feeling trapped in their seat, glare and the barrier preventing communication with passengers.
Derek Stewart, director of safety, environment and emergency management with Coast Mountain, said the chosen design protects operators while the bus is in motion while allowing clear sight lines to the mirrors to accommodate for reflections at night and making sure drivers can communicate with customers.
“We still have an unacceptably high level of assaults against operators,” said Stewart. “I think it’s going to be another valuable tool for us and hopefully we’re going to see significant improvements as a result.”
Mike McMillan and Harb Kular, vice-presidents with Unifor Local 111, which represents Coast Mountain bus drivers, welcomed the barriers as a way to improve driver and customer safety. They particularly like that the barrier has a sliding partition that allows drivers to talk to customers.
“The biggest thing that our operators enjoy is the interaction with the general public,” Kular said.
New buses equipped with barriers are expected to begin arriving by early 2018. Coast Mountain orders 100 to 150 replacement buses per year.
Coast Mountain will also retrofit 208 of its approximately 1,300 conventional buses with barriers and six trolley buses will have barriers installed as part of an expanded pilot program.
Retrofits will be underway by the end of 2017 and completed within two years.
Purchasing and installing each barrier costs about $5,000.
It’s expected that within 10 years, about 75 per cent of the bus fleet will have safety barriers installed.
Other tools that have been implemented to increase driver safety include on-board security cameras, GPS radio systems, assault alarms, driver training, transit security and police, and public information campaigns.